Creatively Marketing Your Writing
There’s more than one way to sell a book
It’s no secret that you have to spend money to make money, and the most productive way for writers to spend money is with advertising.
Advertising is a solid method of getting the word out, and done strategically it will work much faster than a regular social media post.
In my experience, the most common kind of writer that’s advertising today are those with books on Kindles KDP.
Of all the writers I’ve met, those with self-published books have been the most driven when it comes to paying to get the word out there.
However Kindle writers shouldn’t be alone. Those of us producing quality pieces on Medium shouldn’t be averse to investing in advertising either.
So once we know that we really should be dabbling in the world of advertising, how do we get started?
Advertising methods
The most common method for writers is paying to boost a Facebook post.
This method is by far the simplest, and will take the least amount of technical knowledge.
A lack of knowledge or motivation is a big way that Facebook convinces us to invest with them.
Constant emails and notifications will inform you of benefits that are awaiting you once you’ve clicked on that ‘Boost’ button.
Especially if you run a fan group for your writing or small business.
Once you’ve clicked boost, a pop-up will emerge asking for customer pinpointing details.
This is the part that Facebook does really well and is the reason why so many writers swear by it.
Facebook allows you to click and determine a specific audience that will see your sponsored post.
Is your book for 18–20 year old females with an eating disorder and a love of cats? Facebook can get your ad in front of those very specific eyes.
The downfall is that each click on your sponsored post is very expensive compared to other services, and you’ll never know how many of your clicks were real customers versus bots.
I’ve personally used Facebook to boost lots of my posts over the years, and some of the lead generation has seemed suspicious.
So when I’m feeling suspicious of my respondents, I will click through on every single person that has liked or shared my post. (Likes and shares that I have paid Facebook for).
Unfortunately in my experience, the majority of those I’ve clicked through have been possible bots.
I suspect people of being bots when their entire Facebook wall only features other sponsored posts.
They’ve also only got about a dozen friends, and seem to have interacted with none of them.
Their photos will also either never feature the same person more than once, or will be recognisable from Google or Getty Images.
Because of these findings, I’ve relegated to using Facebook for only the most bare bones of advertising needs.
I now turn to what I see as a far more affordable, and much more reliable source of advertising.
Going where the eyes really are…
Where do you think the eyes of your readers really are?
Where is the majority of the internet spending time every single day? Where are most of the dollars being spent?
If you haven’t guessed it by now, I’m talking about porn.
Porn sites such as Pornhub and YouPorn are frequented far more often than any other site you’re currently advertising on.
According to The Huffington Post, porn sites are responsible for over 30% of the total data being transferred over the entire internet.
This means that porn sites see more traffic than Amazon, Netflix and Twitter combined.
This is where your customers really are. Why not advertise on them?
Where the eyes are
For the past month, I’ve been advertising my publication The Mile High Club with a service called Traffic Junky.
Traffic Junky is the source through which we get our banner ads onto the internets most popular porn sites.
I’ve been using these sites to sell my self published books for years. This includes both regular and erotic books.
(This strategy has surprisingly actually worked better for non-erotic books).
This method of advertising isn’t going to suit everyone. Some people will be really offended by the idea.
But really think about it.
It’s not only scumbags and lowlives on these sites, it’s all of us.
70% of men watch porn regularly, and so do 30% of women. These people aren’t dirtballs, they’re ordinary people like you and me.
Customers are on these sites to serve a purpose. Once they’ve finished with their … ah.. mission; they’re open to suggestion.
My ads are in good company with food, beverage, clothing, and lots of other businesses looking for customers on the busiest sites on Earth.
The best part is the price.
While Facebook will charge me up to $1.10 for each click, Traffic Junky has historically charged me between $0.08 and $0.20 for each click.
**EDIT**
I got this stat wrong. I wasn’t charged per click, rather I was charged per 1,000 impressions.
This means that you need to be watching your ads carefully to ensure you’re getting enough clicks per 1,000 views to ensure your banner is effective.
If you’re not great at making banner ads and want more bang for the buck, I recommend paying someone on Fiverr to make you one. Post a Buyer Request and sellers will compete to offer you the lowest price.
Early days can feel tedious. But once a banner ad is working reliably, you can start to relax.
With Traffic Junky, I’m getting a lot more clicks, and I’m paying a lot less for each one.
I can’t make the audience as specific as I can with Medium, but I’m casting a much wider net.
If my customers like to watch porn (and chances are they do), they may want to buy a book when they’re done.
I haven’t found that the traffic has been as efficient with getting me loyal Medium readers as it has been with gaining me customers on Amazon. But I have found it much, much better value for money than Facebook.
Plus it’s simple. Just make a banner ad that fits the size requirements of the sites you want to advertise on. I make all my banners on Microsoft Paint.
An ad like this takes 10 minutes and will grab eyes.
As you may be able to tell, the book pictured above is intended for gay readers.
So while Traffic Junky doesn’t have a lot of targeting options, I can target those that choose to watch gay material on their sites.
Can you imagine them clicking this ad? Well they did! And they click non-dirty ads just as frequently. (Or even more so).
So do you think this is worth giving a try? Or is it too outlandish for you? We’re all different, and we all have different strategies.
The customers are out there, and we’re not entitled to their eyes or their wallets. We have to work for it, and often we have to spend for it.
So are you ready to get started?
There’s no time like the present,
